Every facility manager who calls us for a cardio refresh eventually asks the same question: Is connected equipment worth the extra investment, or should we stick with traditional cardio? The answer isn’t as simple as choosing what’s newest or what’s cheapest. It depends on what you need your cardio floor to accomplish.

Traditional equipment may be the right choice if your priority is reliable, straightforward equipment that gets the job done. Connected cardio, on the other hand, can add features like live and on-demand workouts, progress tracking, personalized experiences, and other tools designed to increase engagement.
So the real question isn’t “connected or traditional?” It’s “what do you want your cardio investment to do for your facility?” That’s the question worth answering before you decide where to spend your budget.
Key Takeaways
- Connected equipment tends to drive the greatest engagement among younger, tech-comfortable users and those who already expect a digital fitness experience.
- Connected cardio can cost more over time, with added expenses for subscriptions, networking, and service.
- Traditional cardio remains the more dependable choice for facilities with tight budgets, heavy equipment turnover, or limited onsite technical support.
- Connected equipment pays off when paired with reliable wifi and someone responsible for keeping content and software current.
- The strongest cardio floors we design mix connected pieces in high-visibility spots with dependable traditional units to handle exerciser volume.
What’s the Real Difference Between Traditional and Connected Cardio?
Traditional cardio equipment covers treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, and rowers built around a simple console: heart rate, time, distance, calories, maybe a preset program or two.
Meanwhile, connected cardio adds a layer of software on top of the underlying machine, turning it into a hub for streaming classes, leaderboards, biometric tracking, and app syncing. Popular commercial-grade brands include Peloton and Precor.

Here’s how the two typically compare on the floor:
- Content: Traditional equipment offers built-in programs at best. Connected equipment streams live and on-demand classes, often with instructor-led coaching.
- Data: Traditional consoles track session basics. Connected systems track workout history over time, sync with wearables, and feed data back to exercisers through an app.
- Community: Traditional equipment is a solo experience. Connected equipment adds leaderboards, group challenges, and sometimes social features tied to a broader online ecosystem.
- Infrastructure needs: Traditional cardio needs power and floor space. Connected cardio needs these as well as reliable wifi, ongoing software updates, and often a subscription account per unit.
- Learning curve: Traditional equipment is often universal, while connected equipment may be harder for some exercisers to set up and get started.
Neither is objectively better designed. They’re built to solve different problems, which is important to consider if you are trying to compare price tags side by side.
How Much More Does Connected Cardio Actually Cost?
The upfront price difference is only part of the picture. When we walk clients through a full cardio budget, these are the line items that tend to get overlooked:

- Service and maintenance. Connected consoles have more that can go wrong, from software glitches to screen failures, and service contracts for connected equipment tend to run higher than for traditional consoles. This is where it helps to partner with reputable brands, like Peloton and Precor.
- Network infrastructure. If your facility doesn’t already have commercial-grade wifi that can support multiple streaming devices at once, that’s a separate upfront project and an ongoing cost. However, having commercial-grade wifi is also becoming a common expectation in facilities. This upgrade could help clear up front desk complaints, minimize exerciser inconveniences, and even help you expand other benefits (from wireless access control to smart recovery bays).
- Content and subscription fees. Connected equipment often requires a subscription to unlock classes and programming, which adds an ongoing cost. However, you may be able to balance the budget by trimming any extra cardio classes that only have one or two regular attendees, giving these exercisers a connected alternative they may even prefer.
- Staff training. Someone on your team needs to understand the software well enough to troubleshoot it, update it, and help exercisers get set up. While this is a time cost, it can often be handled by your on-site staff without increasing payroll. Additionally, many of the exercisers attracted to connected fitness equipment are familiar with popular brands (or have the tech-savvy skills to sort it out).
To be fair, traditional equipment has its own hidden costs. Basic consoles fail too, and a facility full of plain treadmills doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from the gym down the street.
Does Connected Equipment Actually Improve Engagement?
This is where a lot of the marketing noise around connected fitness gets ahead of reality. Engagement isn’t just a feeling—it’s measurable through session frequency, workout length, repeat visits, and retention.
What we’ve observed across the facilities we’ve helped design and equip:

- Connected equipment tends to extend average session length, particularly when class content is fresh, and instructors are engaging.
- It performs best as a draw for undecided or lapsed exercisers, giving them a reason to try the gym instead of a home workout app.
- Connected equipment helps facilities add more classes and increase variety without expanding payroll. For example, you would not need to hire someone new to teach a spin class, as Peloton bikes (and their subscriptions) include various instructors. Exercisers also benefit from getting to choose the instructor, workout, and pace that meets them where they are at, creating an elevated overall experience that can drive engagement (and potentially limit front desk complaints).
- It tends to underperform when the wifi is unreliable, the content library goes stale, or nobody on staff promotes it. In those cases, the expensive machine becomes a very nice-looking treadmill that nobody streams anything on.
- Traditional equipment doesn’t drive the same excitement, but it also doesn’t disappoint. A well-maintained traditional cardio floor sees consistent, dependable use year over year without much intervention.
Engagement is real, but it’s not automatic. It has to be supported in your operations.
Which Gyms Need Connected Cardio?
Connected equipment tends to earn its keep fastest in facilities where differentiation and exerciser experience are part of the business model, including:

- Multifamily and apartment communities competing for renters based on amenities
- Country club gyms, where premium membership prices often leave exercisers expecting premium equipment
- Boutique studios and personal training facilities building a brand around premium experience
- Corporate wellness spaces trying to give employees a real reason to use the onsite gym
- College and university facilities competing for prospective students on campus tours
Who Should Stick with Traditional Cardio?
Connected cardio isn’t the right call everywhere, and there’s no shame in choosing dependable over flashy:

- K-12 schools, where budget constraints and simplicity usually win out
- High-turnover public recreation centers where equipment takes heavy, unsupervised use
- Sports performance and training facilities where athletes want function over entertainment
- Active aging facilities, where exerciser populations tend to prefer simple, tech-free interfaces
- Facilities without reliable network infrastructure
- Any budget-conscious project where the funds are better spent on strength equipment, flooring, or facility layout
How Traditional and Connected Cardio Work Together
A thoughtful mix of traditional and connected cardio equipment can give your facility the best of both worlds.
Connected equipment can add value and engagement, but it doesn’t need to make up your entire cardio floor. While digital features are becoming more common, many exercisers still prefer reliable, straightforward equipment that simply gets the job done.

The right balance ultimately depends on your audience and facility. For example, many hospitality gyms benefit from primarily traditional equipment that’s simple to use and appeals to a wide range of exercisers. On the other hand, a luxury, high-end hotel may benefit from more connected cardio to meet guest expectations for the latest technology and features.
How Do You Decide What’s Right for Your Facility?
Before locking in a cardio equipment plan, it helps to speak with a gym design professional on how to appeal to your exerciser audience and future-proof your cardio floor. You may also consider a few guiding questions, including:
- What’s your current wifi and network capacity, and can it handle streaming across multiple machines at once?
- Who on your team will own troubleshooting and content updates for connected equipment?
- What does your exerciser population look like, and how tech-comfortable are they?
- What’s your realistic budget beyond the purchase price, including subscriptions and service contracts?
- What are competing facilities in your area offering, and does that matter to the people you’re trying to attract or retain?
Make Your Gym’s Cardio Visions a Reality with ASF
If you’re planning a cardio equipment refresh and want a second opinion on what will actually work for your space and your exercisers, ASF is here for you.

We proudly offer the services you need to build the cardio floor of your dreams, including gym design and planning, equipment delivery and installation, maintenance and repair, and leasing or financing.
You can view our work or contact us to start the conversation today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Connected cardio equipment includes a touchscreen or app-based console that streams live and on-demand classes, tracks workout history over time, and often syncs with wearables or a broader fitness app. Traditional cardio equipment tracks the basics, like time, distance, and heart rate, without any of that software layer.
Plan for more than just the equipment premium. Factor in per-unit content subscriptions, higher-tier service contracts, and any network upgrades your facility needs to support streaming across multiple machines. Those ongoing costs usually add up to more than the upfront price difference over the life of the equipment.
Both, depending on the exerciser. Some are drawn in by classes and leaderboards and will use a facility more often because of them. Others just want a treadmill that works every time they walk up to it. A cardio floor that only serves one of those groups is leaving engagement on the table.
Yes, and in our experience it’s usually the better strategy. Placing a handful of connected units in a high-visibility area while filling out the rest of the floor with dependable traditional machines tends to outperform an all-connected or all-traditional approach, both on cost and on usage.
At minimum, commercial-grade wifi that can handle multiple devices streaming video at once without dropping. Facilities that skip this step are the ones most likely to see connected equipment sit unused, since a class that buffers or disconnects mid-workout gets abandoned quickly.
Peloton is built entirely around the connected model, with bikes and rowers centered on live and on-demand classes. Precor offers connected options within its Experience Series while also making strong traditional cardio equipment, which is part of why we recommend pairing brands based on what each facility needs rather than picking one brand for the whole floor. Other connected brands include Aviron, FORME, and Your Reformer, with equipment and details outlined here for more information.

























